Separated At Birth

By: Tracy Cook

Disclaimer: I do not own anything; these characters belong to the creators of The Vampire Diaries.

Authors Note: This is an AU fic.

Pairing: Bonnie/Damon, Rebekah/Caroline.

Rating: M

Chapter Four

My mother groaned! My father wept,

Into the dangerous world I leapt.

Seven long years had passed.

Seven long years only made bearable due to the young witch, Bonnie Bennett.

Damon still slept within the caves, trapped between the two worlds that he longed to be a part of. He was still tortured endlessly when he entered the human cities and ridiculed when he entered demon lands, but Bonnie was there with him through it all. She was always there to remind him of who he really was. To tell him that he was a beautiful person and that he should not listen to their jeers.

She had visited him each and every day since the first day that they met.

Never once had she missed a day.

It still baffled him that she thought of him as normal. Some days it would truly anger him and some days he was truly grateful for her words. They kept him grounded and from doing anything that he would regret. Bonnie Bennett had become the most important thing in the world to him. He cherished everything that she did for him and every word that she spoke to him.

But, as time passed those words were slowly beginning to be consumed by the hatred that he felt being an outcast. He feared that one day even they would not be enough to stop him from doing the unthinkable.

With her visits to him he had started to notice the changes in her appearance. She was aging alongside him and she was growing into a lovely young woman. Her hair was long and dark and framed her beautiful face, her green eyes stood out against her smooth caramel skin, and she had grown taller with age.

'Not much taller though…' Damon noted internally. He actually found it rather adorable that she was still so short. He wondered if she was going to grow much taller or if she would remain her current height. He thought about Bonnie a lot. She was almost always on his mind.

He on the other hand had grown remarkably. He was almost six feet tall and his build was far more muscular than it was when he was a ten year old boy. His chest was well-sculpted and he was extremely strong. He knew now that he was far more powerful than any human and most demons. For he had the ability to use human technology, but also had the magic and power of a demon. No one was stronger than him.

The power was intoxicating and it tempted him every day.

He held back though, for Bonnie.

Along with all of these changes in his appearance there were many others, his jawline and brow were more prominent than before and his eyes were an even brighter shade of blue. His wings extended many feet above his head now and they too were more powerful. Bonnie never praised him for his power though; she saw the beauty in the man behind the power. She saw the beauty in his soul.

Bonnie Bennett was perfection.

Damon no longer needed to go to the city to steal food, because every day when she arrived she brought him leftovers from her meals. She would float leafs for his entertainment and always bring a smile to his face. She made him feel special and she gave him a reason to be alive.

One day though, he realized that his attachment toward her was also problematic. Because with his attachment came a protective nature that he did not know he had. It was instinctual for him to long to kill humans and he fought that urge every single day. But, the day that Bonnie came to him and told him that some humans had caught her doing magic and had hurt her, that was the day that he fell off the deep end.

'Bonnie showed up at the lake with a basket full of food, like usual, but today was different. Damon immediately noticed the bruises that lined her eyes and covered her arms and his muscles tensed. She attempted to greet him like nothing had happened. He could not ignore the evidence that suggested otherwise though. His heart was racing and his stomach twisted in knots. He was going to kill whoever hurt the woman standing before him.

"Who did this to you?" He growled angrily.

Bonnie looked away from his angry eyes and focused on the ground. She knew what he was capable of and she did not wish to ignite the fire within him. "No one, Damon. It's nothing. I just slipped and fell."

"I don't believe you! Those are not the marks of someone who just slipped and fell, those are the marks of…" His brow furrowed and he squint his eyes at the marks. They looked like hands. Human hands. "Those are the marks of a human." Damon's hatred toward the human race was growing more and more every day and this was too much for him to handle. Some pathetic human scum had laid a hand on the most precious woman on the planet.

Knowing that he was scaring the young woman he took a breath and decided to take another approach in getting his information. Taking a step toward her he placed his hands upon her shoulders and stared deep into her eyes.

Speaking in a calm voice, he asked again. "Who did this to you, Bonnie?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she crumbled before him, falling into his arms and sobbing loudly against his chest. It shattered his heart. Hastily Damon wrapped his arms tightly around her making sure to be gentle enough not to crush her. Sometimes he did not realize his true strength.

For a few moments he held her body tightly against his and allowed her to cry. Allowed her to find comfort in the warmth of his body.

When she pulled away and stared up into his eyes once more, Damon lifted his fingers and stroked the dark hair from her eyes tucking it behind her ear. "Who did this to you? Please tell me. I need to know."

Bonnie told him the names of the humans who had hurt her. She told him that they had found out about her magic and they had started to throw her around, telling her that she was a disgrace and that they did not want her kind in their city. That they were going to tell the king and have her executed.

He could not allow that to happen.

They had to be silenced.

Damon's body started to shake and he walked past Bonnie toward the city. Never looking back at her as she cried out to him and told him to leave them alone. He knew that she could possibly hate him for doing what he was about to do. But he had to.

He stormed into the city walls and walked past the humans. They no longer jeered at him with confidence or attempted to attack him, now they cowered and called out to the king's guards. He did not care. He was a man on a mission and he planned to succeed. Walking through the alleyways he came up to the men who had attacked Bonnie. He already knew who they were; they had insulted both of them on many occasions.

They started to insult him and call him names but he did not care. Their words meant nothing to him anymore. They could not hurt him as much as he planned to hurt them.

Damon walked toward the men and gripped their throats tightly in his hands, lifting them above the ground and staring them down angrily. Spitting on them as he spoke. "Let this be a lesson to everyone." A crowd had gathered around them to watch the display. "No one is to harm Bonnie Bennett in any way or I shall come after you!" With that he gripped their necks tightly and watched as they were crushed beneath his hands, blood covering their chests and staining the stone beneath their feet.

'Thud, thud.' Their bodies fell to the ground and he turned around.

The people looked prepared to kill him, but he was not afraid of them. With blood covering his hands he extended his wings and flew away from the scene. None of them could stop him. He was too powerful.'

O

Stefan looked himself over in the mirror with a proud smile on his face. His hair was done perfectly and he was wearing one of his nicest suits. It always made him feel proud of himself when he looked dressed to impress. Still, there was something bothering him about the evening at hand.

Tonight was his seventeenth birthday and his mother decided that he and Caroline were finally ready to be married. They had spent the last seven years enjoying the friendship that they had built and finding happiness in playing around with each other. They had shared every secret and every moment together, and even he could not deny that she had grown into one of the most stunning women he had ever seen.

Despite all of these things they were still not prepared to get married to each other.

Neither of them felt that spark that you felt when you were with the person who meant everything to you. They wanted true love, passion, adventure, and happiness. And they only found a few of those things being together. You were supposed to find all of those things with the person that you married.

Tonight they were throwing a ball at the castle. Caroline's family was visiting. It was not only a celebration for his birthday, but also a celebration for their impending wedding.

Fixing his bowtie, he turned and started down the stairs toward the ballroom of the castle. He spotted Caroline immediately as he entered the room and he offered her a smile, extending his arm to her and politely asking her to dance. She did as she was asked and walked with him out toward the dance floor. They were dancing mostly to appease their parents who were watching them like hawks.

But, they had also grown to love the other's company.

Caroline cast her blue eyes up at him as she moved along with the music allowing him to lead the dance. "I am sorry, Stefan. I wasn't able to get my dad to change his mind about the wedding."

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Honestly, at this point there were worse fates that they could have. At least he loved and cared for the woman that he was to get married to. "No need to apologize. I too was incapable of getting my mother to budge on this whole ordeal."

She forced a sad smile and rested her head upon his chest. She wanted nothing more than to feel the connection with Stefan that her daddy wanted her to feel. She wanted to feel her heart race when he kissed her, feel her body quake whenever he touched her. "I wish that they would see how unreasonable they are being."

"There is still time before the wedding, perhaps they will."

Caroline laughed sarcastically. "Yeah right, I doubt that."

"You never know." He offered. Not even believing his own words. He knew that if after seven years of asking them not to force the marriage they still were, there was little hope that they could do something within the next month to stop it.

She glanced over at her father who was chatting idly with Stefan's mother and she shook her head. "I know."

"You never know." This time he spoke in a serious tone of voice. Like he had a plan. It gave Caroline an odd sense of hope that she had long forgotten and she snuggled against his chest and smiled brightly. Stefan always had a way of saying the thing that she needed to hear. He truly was one of the kindest people that she had ever met.

When the song came to an end the two of them walked off of the dance floor toward one of the tables covered in delicacies.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by someone with a beautiful British accent. "It is about time that I met Stefan's wife to be."

Caroline's ears perked up as she heard the voice and she quickly turned to see who it belonged to. Standing in front of them were two of Stefan's knights. She had seen them on many occasions, but she had never actually spoken to either of them. Rebekah and Kol Mikaelson. They were of the same royal blood and they both looked gorgeous.

Kol Mikaelson was known around the country as a knight with no heart. He took joy and pleasure in torturing and killing demons of all kinds. It was almost recreational for him. He had decapitated hundreds of the monsters single-handedly.

He was a masterpiece.

But, Rebekah was the one who caught Caroline's attention.

She too was a knight and she was most powerful. It was extremely uncommon for a woman to be knighted; in fact it was unheard of. But, Stefan had insisted upon it. He had heard that she was one of the best around the country and he wanted her to aid in defending their country. She had flowing blonde hair and striking blue eyes and her accented voice caused Caroline's heart to race. Her body, though concealed in heavy armor was obviously fit and perfect.

Stefan cared for Rebekah, but he also grew annoyed with her need to constantly undermine him with her sarcastic comments. She was not very good at taking orders.

Rebekah took a step toward Caroline and stared deep into her eyes with a devious smirk on her full lips. "Not quite what I had expected. She is cute I suppose, but nothing all that spectacular. Honestly, she looks sort of simple."

The words stung. Oddly enough Caroline still felt her heart flutter when the blonde Brit called her cute, despite the harsh words that had followed. She swallowed hard and cast her blue eyes down at Rebekah's lips then back up at her eyes. She could not find her voice.

"Rebekah, mind your manners." Stefan told her with a scowl on his lips. "She is of royal blood."

"As am I." Rebekah reminded.

He glared at her. "She is to be the Queen of our country, you are only a knight. Show some respect for her."

"I shall show her respect when she earns it. As of now there is no reason for me to believe that she would be a more suitable Queen than I myself." Rebekah offered one last annoyed glance toward the blonde princess and then turned and walked in the other direction. Kol following beside her.

Kol smiled over at his sister deviously and said, "That wasn't very nice, sister."

"As if you of all people can talk." She countered.

O

"I'm seventeen years old, mother! I think that I am plenty old enough to know what true love feels like! I do not feel that with Caroline!" Stefan insisted stubbornly. He was getting tired of having to explain to his mother that the love that he felt for Caroline was only a friendship. That he wanted to go out and find true love. That he wanted the spark that people talked about, the feelings that invoked a love novel, he wanted everything.

"You are too young to know what you want. You may think that you know what true love is, but you don't Stefan. You have never been in love. How do you know that the love that you feel for Caroline is not true love?"

"It isn't mother."

"How do you know?"

"I just know. I may not have ever been in love before, but that is only because you will not allow me to find the woman to give my heart to. You will not allow me to see other women. If I attempt to do so you have them punished for my attraction toward them. How am I to know what love is?"

"You will find out what love is with Caroline or you will never find out, Stefan. We have talked about this numerous times and those are your options."

"Basically I have no options then."

"If you wish to look at it that way then yes." His mother took a step toward him and stared deep into his eyes. "You will be marrying Caroline. You can choose to love her or choose not to love her, but it is your duty to your country to do this. This is the only way to prevent war from overtaking both of our kingdoms. So, you will do as you are told, boy."

"Good luck forcing me to marry anyone if I am nowhere to be found." Stefan spat back, turning and walking briskly out of the ballroom and down the stairs to the entrance of the castle. He was not going to be told by his parents what his destiny was. He was going to make his own path.

"Stefan, get back here!"

He did not listen.

He was already gone.

O

Authors Note:

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! :) There will be more Bamon romance coming up in the later chapters. I apologize for the pace of the fic and I hope that it is not bothering y'all! Thank you guys so much for all of your wonderful reviews! Because of them I decided to once again add another chapter quickly! Y'all are so amazing! So, what do you think is going to happen with Stefan now? Where will he go? What do you think is going to happen with Damon and the power that he has found? I hope that y'all do not mind the Rebekoline. I am actually a lesbian and kind of wanted to include my favorite femslash pairing from TVD. :) Hopefully y'all like it too.

Thank you guys so much for all of your support! Please do send me some reviews and tell me what you think and if y'all want more and I promise to have the next chapter out ASAP!

Love you guys!

-Tracy Cook